River 'on fire' near Darling Downs CSG fracking site

UPDATE: CHINCHILLA local and anti-CSG campaigner Helen Bender said the seeing the Condamine River go up in flames was no surprise.

"I have concerns for the river, I see the bubbling," she said.

"I am very concerned because people say this is natural, no, it is only natural in the sense there isn't a methane bottle at the bottom of the river."

Ms Bender has seen two bores on her own family's property be rendered unusable after so much gas was trying to be released, she said this had happened to nine bores in the area.

She explained that the gas was not always captured by the wells that had been drilled, and that escaped gas would find any other way out, for example through bores and the river, which migrate through natural fault lines.

"The industry started without knowing what our geology was and they have only found this fault where the gas is migrating through under the Condamine, where it is able to reach the surface," Ms Bender said.

Helen Bender (right) with her mother Pam at a service to remember their father and husband George who took his own life after a long battle with the coal seam gas sector.Alana Calvert

EARLIER: A VIDEO uploaded to Youtube shows the Condamine River on fire near a coal seam gas site on the Darling Downs.

Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham shot the footage which shows him light gas bubbles on the river.

Mr Buckingham said he was shocked by the force of the explosion which he tested whether gas boiling through the river was flammable.

"So much gas is bubbling through the river that it held a hug flame," he said.

"There has been concern that fracking and extraction of coal seam gas could cause gas to migrate through the rock.

"Not only is it polluting the river and air, but methane is an extremely potent heat trapping gas.

"Fugitive emissions from the unconventional gas industry could be a major contributor to climate change and make gas as dirty as burning coal."

Mr Buckingham said gas first started bubbling through the river shortly after the coal seam gas industry took off in the Chinchilla area and since then the volume of gas bubbling through the river had massively increased and spread along the river.

"You can see stakes in the river bank where the Queensland Government has marked each gas seep," he said.

"You can also see pipework near the river where Origin Energy has installed for monitoring the gas bubbling through the river."

Origin Energy said in early 2012 seeps were reported in four Condamine River locations following a period of heavy flooding in the region.

"A subsequent Queensland Government investigation into the seeps found no evidence of safety risk or environmental harm," it said.

Origin Energy told The Australia the nearest has wells were several kilometers away.